European Botanic Gardens Consortium

There are around 800 botanic gardens in Europe and in most countries these are linked through national botanic garden networks.

Representatives of the national networks come together in the European Botanic Gardens Consortium, of which BGCI is the convenor.

This Consortium consists of representatives of all EU member countries, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, and invited to attend meetings as observers.

The Consortium meets twice a year, with meetings being hosted by member gardens.
The role of the Consortium is to facilitate communication between country networks to disseminate shared experiences and issues, and to reduce duplication of effort.
BGCI serves as the secretariat to the consortium.

In line with the interests of BGCI, much of the work of the Consortium is focused on wild plant conservation and issues related to the sharing of information and plant resources throughout the European region.

European Botanic Gardens Consortium projects:

PlantSearch: creating a catalogue of plants in cultivation in European botanic gardens

A Database to plants in Cultivation around the world

International Plant Exchange Network

A system for the exchange of non-commercial plant material between botanic gardens, based on the CBD

Seed lists

The Pan-European seed-list search system - ebgconsortiumindexseminum

Alien plants

Sharing information, and policy, on potentially invasive alien plants in Botanic Gardens